Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter

"Capcom's brilliance shines through again!"

Capcom has certainly made a splash in the arena of 2D fighting, and they were never better than when they were producing games for the Saturn, Sega's masterful 2D machine. Without a doubt, the greatest creation by this company during this generation was the development of the ''Vs.'' series of games featuring characters from the Capcom and Marvel universes. Unlike the traditional Street Fighter games, precision was not required when executing moves, making the franchise much more accessible to the average gamer and quite popular overall. Marvel vs. Street Fighter and X-Men vs. Street Fighter were Capcom's two crowning jewels in this franchise on the Saturn, and while both games are incredible, I tend to favor MSH vs. SF slightly more than the latter. A version of MSH vs. SF is also available on the Playstation, but you would be crazy to play it. That version is very flawed and fails to approach the greatness displayed by the Saturn version.

Gameplay

The first thing you notice upon booting up MSH vs. SF is the loading screen. Take a picture because that's the last time you'll see one of those! This game requires the 4MB RAM cart to run on the Saturn, and Capcom made fine use of it, eliminating all load times with the exception of the initial one and providing a gameplay experience which is not interrupted by frequent loading times.

Once you actually delve into the game, you will be very pleased. The meat of the game revolves around arcade mode, in which you pick two characters to use as a tag team against two other characters. You fight your way through the rounds to the final two bosses: Apocalypse and Mech-Gouki. Apocalypse is a huge target and not too difficult to defeat, but Mech-Gouki can be quite a pain, especially on the harder difficulty settings. Each of the characters has an ending, but unless you can read Japanese, you'll be missing out on that. I wouldn't worry about it too much, however. Who plays a fighting game for the story?

The controls here are classic Capcom: extremely responsive and intuitive. Capcom utilizes its usual six-button control scheme which is just made for the Saturn's controller. Moves are very easy to perform and very fun to do. It might take a little time, but you'll soon be comboing with the best of them. The controls are more forgiving than a typical Street Fighter game, so the frustration factor is lower here when you're just learning the game. This also gives an inexperienced player a slightly better chance of beating a more seasoned opponent.

Capcom also has included a few other modes here, including a training mode and a tough surival modes. There are several hidden characters to keep you coming back for more, although you shouldn't expect anything on the level of Marvel vs. Capcom 2's selection. Still, the character lineup here is very impressive and diversified, including Norimaru, a new character who may just win the award for ''unlikeliest character ever to appear in a fighting game.'' You're sure to find at least a few warriors you enjoy using, and you'll want to beat the game at least once with each of them.

Score: 10/10

Graphics

With the 4MB cart, MSH vs. SF's visuals are perfectly reproduced on the Saturn, providing a stunning 2D gaming experience. Every animation from the arcade version is present, and characters are highly detailed. The Marvel characters match their comic book counterparts perfectly. This game is more colorful than X-Men vs. SF, providing a more eye-pleasing experience. Backgrounds also have a great amount of detail. Overall, it just doesn't get much better on the Saturn.

Score: 10/10

Sound

Capcom traditionally produces a great soundtrack for its games, and it hits the mark again here. The fighting tunes are nicely done and very listenable, although the character select music does get on my nerves after awhile. Character voices here are generally well done, even though hearing Cyclops yell, ''Optic Blast!'' constantly is annoying.

Score: 9/10

Story

As previously mentioned, no one really plays a fighting game for the story, but for what it's worth, here it is. The characters from the Marvel and Street Fighter universes come together to stop the evil plans of Apocalypse. Okay, it won't win any awards, but it's acceptable enough.

Score: 7/10

Replay value
Are you kidding? Replay value is off the charts here. This game is extremely fun to play, and while it may not have the big selection of some later Capcom games, the fun factor more than makes up for it. You'll keep coming back to this one after all your other games have gathered a fine coat of dust. Of course, with any good fighter, you have the opportunity to beat on your friends, and MSH vs. SF delivers here, too.

Score: 10/10

Overall impressions

We should all thank Capcom for bringing this fine game to us. Unfortunately, this one never received an American release due to Sega's decision to keep the 4MB cart in Japan. So, in order to play this game, you'll have to do some importing, but it is more than worth it. This is one game every Saturn owner should have in his or her collection. In fact, you can't go wrong grabbling this game or X-Men vs. SF, and I would highly recommend you buy both games. The two of them play differently, and you'll put plenty of hours into each one. As said before, you should avoid the Playstation version of this at all costs. It simply doesn't stack up to the majesty of the Saturn's port. This game is arcade perfect and timeless.

Overall score (not an average): 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/12/03, Updated 05/12/03